My Blog

I feel ‘mou liu’ today so I shall write a new blog; to kill 15 minutes of my time. It has been a while since I last updated my blog. What shall I talk about today? Hmmm…if you have been hanging out with me recently, my latest topic is my new set of braced teeth. Hehe. After 11 years of ‘careful consideration’, I have finally gotten the courage to straighten my ever-crooked-teeth.  The process is indeed very painful; first having to extract four of my good teeth (I still feel sad whenever I think about my departed teeth), then now finally doing the metal bracing. Having sharp stainless steel wiring sticking into my mouth 24/7 is definitely not my idea of fun. I miss PORK. I miss chips. I miss food. I have been eating nothing but watery porridge and soup for the past week. Having said that, even though I have not seen any results yet,  I feel happy about this.

When you talk to me, you will be able to tell that I cannot pronounce syllables as well anymore. I always have ‘wind escaping’ out of my mouth, especially with syllables containing ‘f’ in them. For example, ‘fantastic’ now becomes ‘pphhantassstic’.  ‘fictitious’ now becomes ‘pphhictitiousss’. How annoying! So next time , please converse with me in chinese.

Oh another thing I have to clarify is…if you see white stuff sticking onto the metal, thats wax. If it is red, it is not chili remains but the metal coloring itself. If yellow, it is leftover cement. If green, it is DEFINITELY vegetable, so please TELL ME if you see green  stuff sticking onto my metal. YUCKS. *SHIVERS*

Yesterday I went shopping at Wisma. I saw a shirt I really liked, selling for RM 70. I bought it for RM60. I knew the discount wasn’t that great, but I was willing to buy it because I liked it. Continuing on with my spree, I went to the shop around the corner. There I saw that exact same shirt selling for RM 45.90. Oh shucks! I HATE being slaughtered.

I am back at work already. Ever since I started work in January, I have been sooooo busy. Rushing this file, rushing that file. Clients chasing me for the accounts; phoning me EVERDAY. I mean EVERYDAY. Somedays when I am by myself in the fishtank aka office, I feel like switching off the lights and working in the dark. Hmmm…at least then I could pretend I am not in the office…???

I have been in heaven aka Labuan for the past 2 weeks. My most joyous experience there during my last trip was shopping with Marcel at Utama Jaya. I wanted to buy beer. Heineken? Tiger? Carlsberg? So many choices!  Being a non drinker, I had no idea what to get! After standing in the aisle for like 1/2 hour and him about to kill me for my indecisiveness, I decided to get 10 cans of Tiger and 2 cans of Heineken. Actually I bought 2 cans of Heineken just to entertain Marcel. He insisted I must get Heineken coz it is of better quality, smoother but more bitter?!?!?!

Marcel asked me a strange question the other day. He asked ‘Why are you so goddamn happy, every minute, every hour, every day?’ Hmmm…I also dont know. Actually I didn’t realise that I look very happy every minute every hour every day. Deep down I am not. My soul is crying out desperately for help from someone, anyone. Hahaha!

I know that Marcel hates working with me. It stresses him out when we are on the same job. I make him do all the crappy fun things in the audit jobs. Audit programs and planning documents are certainly his favorites! But the poor soul hasn’t got a choice. He’ll have to work with me until he quits or…to be continued…

Christmas is just around the corner.  Some friends will be coming to my home for a Christmas dinner.  It is gonna be a western style pot luck type of dinner.  There will be lambchops, spaghetti, baked potatoes… AND I’m gonna baked REALLY REALLY YUMMY wings.  KW, please don’t show up empty handed like last time.  I won’t help you wash the MANY MANY loads of dishes this time.  Hmmmm…yummy wings… maybe I will grill my lovely wings on the BBQ grill.  We brought the grill from CanCan eons ago.  The last time we used it was back a few years ago, when the flame from the BBQ gas tank exploded in my face and burnt part of my brow and lashes off.  That was kinda scary.  Maybe I’ll get someone to BBQ the wings for me…I’ll get the person who shows up empty handed to do it.

KPMG Annual Dinner is coming up, on the 15th of this month.  I kinda wanna attend it now, all because of the lucky draw.  If i go, will I win a kettle like I did two years ago? or a table light like I did last year? Not that I have used either, but it is always fun to win something.  I always feel like the luckiest person on earth when I win something, even though the odds of winning are like more than 50%.

I am done with buying cargo pants.  Now my next craze is biker tanks.  I am looking for those everywhere, but I haven’t spotted the exact ones that I have in mind.  As well, my next craze is earrings. Not any kind of earrings, but the cheap, bright and big plastic-kie type that people in the sixties and seventies used to wear.  Do drop me a line if you know where to look for them.

My two-month vacation is almost up…I wince everytime I think about going back to work…*gnawgnaw*.  I have finally decided to get braces.  I finally got my xray done.  Going to QE to get my xray done was annoying.  I didn’t enjoy the long lineups and the wait in general.  Now I am waiting for the phone call from my dentist.  He is gonna pull out four of my teeth, before putting some railroad tracks on my mouth.  Railroad tracks…maybe I will get the glow-in-the-dark type, the type where I can be seen a mile away when i open my mouth at night; or the multicoloured ones that will surely match my outfit.  Soon…when I smile, you will get to see my railroad tracks, how lovely…*gnawgnaw*

My friend says that I need an image change. She says I am too prissy (pristine) looking, and I need to get my ‘feathers ruffled a bit’. A week before, I told Big B and Fun that I wanted to get cargos. They commented ‘You are too short for them’. I’m not really that short ga wor. I am 5′2 1/2. They are tall what. Since I’ve got nothing better to do, I went shopping for the cargos. First to Center Point, then to Warisan.

I must have tried on at least 30 pairs. Olive, grey, blue, beige, brown. Some were cropped, some were long; some with big pockets, some with belts. Looking at the mirrors carefully, in all angles, made me reject all of them. I looked FAT in them! I almost bought a pair at Giordano (RM119 less 30% so it was a good deal), D stopped me with her comment ‘you butt looks huge in them!’. So I asked G the standard ‘do I look fat in them?’ question. The poor soul paused. I could see sweat slittering down his face. He finally said ‘Ummm…those pants…just aren’t made for you.’ I smiled, and decided he is indeed a nice man.

I went back to Giordano after lunch. D and G had to get back to work. This time I went to the one at ground floor because I didn’t think the saleslady was too happy with us this morning. I really liked those pants. I tried them on the second time. I realized then that both D and G were correct. Not a good choice. But the salesman was really nice, and he got me to try on another style of pants and many tops. The nice salesman asked me whether I was single. He also asked me where I lived. Boy oh boy. I hope the nice salesman wasn’t going to be a stalker in disguise.

The pair of woven shorts the stalker nice salesman recommended was neat, but I didn’t want to buy them without asking for a friend’s opinion. When I was a kid, my mama told me I should not trust salesmen as they will say whatever just to get commission. My mama is wise. So I will bring along a friend for a second opinion before I buy them. I think I will go back to the Giodano at Palm Square. I like the shop at Palm Square better.

Today I came home empty handed, but I have an idea what I want now. Dark brown cargos, with an olive top. I will continue to shop around, hopefully I will get an exact one within the next year.

I will be on leave November 1st - December 31st, subject to changes. The thing I like about KPMG is that it gives me so much flexibility! I’m excited about my leave, but what will I be doing at home for months while everyone is at work? Mother says I should study for my last exam paper…hmmm…hmmm…maybe I should listen to her for once…

Speaking of writing for exams, the registered exam centre location for my final exam paper is in Calgary. This whole thing means that I must be back to Calgary before December. I haven’t booked my ticket yet. I am assuming that there will be seats available…if not I will be SCREWED. Heh.

I’ll be really bored in Canada, so guys and gals, do come visit me if you are interested in experiencing the awful winter. Brrrrrrrrr. *Shivers*. I’ll welcome you with open arms. I can bring you to the tourisey areas if you’d like - Lake Louise, Banff, the Rocky Mountains blah blah blah. I’m not sure how thats gonna work out because I ain’t got a drivers licence. Maybe I’ll drive without a licence. The worse thing that could happen is we get caught, spend the night in jail, and get deported back to Malaysia the next day…hmmm…okla, not a big deal.

So really! I am really serious about ‘recruiting’ people to Canada so that my life wouldn’t be dull. So come visit me if you are interested! It’ll be worth it I promise.

I just got back from China. It was an awesome trip! I finally got to see the great wall, the forbidden city, the summer palace! Anyway the purpose of the blog is not to talk about my trip. It is to talk about Pu-Erh.

We bought a lot of tea leafs while we were in China. 4 HUGE boxes of Pu-Erh to be exact, for a grand total of RMB 1,200. The aunties said ‘buy Doreen buy, good deal!’, so I bought some. I have been drinking about two glasses of this tea everyday for the past week. I think it does wonders, because I lost about 1 kg in a week just from drinking this. Anyway the only thing I don’t like about it is that the tea can be too ‘leong’ for me. I get leg cramps from drinking this.

Discussing the merits of tea with my friends actually broadened my knowledge a bit.  My friend told me that Pu-Erh tea is actually ‘Po Lei’. Weird hey? How can Pu-Erh in mandarin possibly be ‘Po Lei’ in cantonese?!?!?! But the fact remains that they are both one and the same.

Below are some paragraphs I copy and pasted from articles on Pu-Erh tea. I hope you will enjoy reading this.

Pu-erh or Pu’er tea (Chinese: 普洱茶; pinyin: pǔ’ěrchá) is a fermented tea, named after Pu’er county in Yunnan, China. It is an unusual tea, because unlike other teas which are consumed shortly after production, it is often aged before consumption; it is not impossible to find pu-erh older than 20, 30, or even 50 years. Indeed, connoisseurs pay heavy prices for older “Pu-Erh”, and classify the teas by year of production, much like a wine vintage. In addition to loose leaf, pu-erh tea is typically bought in cakes of compacted tea.

Unlike other varieties of tea, Pu-Erh is traditionally made with leaves from tall, old trees. These trees are of a varietal known as "broad leaf tea" (大叶, dà yè) found only in Southwest China and bordering regions in Burma, Vietnam, and Laos. The leaves are covered with fine hairs, are larger than other tea leaves, and have a different chemical composition. Leaves from old tea trees growing in the wild on different "tea mountains" are highly valued; more and more, connoisseurs seek Pu-Erh with leaves taken from a single tea mountain’s wild forests, unblended with leaves from any other areas.

Oftentimes Pu-Erh is formed into cakes or bricks, wrapped in paper or pomelo rinds, and stored away from excessive moisture, heat, and sunlight in order to further mature. After being stored for many years, the tea takes on darker, mellower characteristics that come with age. This feature of Pu-Erh probably originated from the natural aging process that happened along the ancient caravan routes. The tea bricks developed a unique clean earthy flavor that was then refined by aficionados.

The restorative and medical properties associated with Pu-erh tea is truly astonishing. Often referred to as the “Wonder Tonic” and the “Medicinal Tea”, Pu-erh tea has been hugely popular in China for over 1700 years. For centuries it was given as a tribute to the Emperor and high ranking officials within the Imperial Courts of China. Its high value and many health benefits lead to high demands and the frequency of the tributes gave it the title “Tribute Tea”.

Accounts on the health benefits and medical use of Pu-erh tea has been documented in various ancient scripts and famous books throughout Chinese history. Pu-erh tea is strongly believed to have wide ranging health benefits from anti aging, prevention of heart disease and cancer, diabetic control, removal of toxins to curing dysentery, inflammation, aiding digestion and weight loss, improving the eyesight, blood circulation and reviving those who are overly intoxicated with alcohol.

I hope this is informative for you. If you don’t remember anything you have read, please just remember one thing - ‘Pu-Erh’ is ‘Po Lei’.

I had a conversation with my friend in Canada. It all started out innocently enough, with him saying me that he will take me out for 10 cents wings if I go back to Calgary. Somehow the conversation went into the topic of Buffalo wings. My friend insisted that Buffalo wings are made from buffalo meat. Buffalo’s legbone to be specific. I was like ?!?!?!?!?! Buffalo wings are made from CHICKEN! Despite my unwillingness to back down on my view, he was quite adamant and tried to convince me otherwise. I am embarrased to say that at one point, I wavered a bit, and actually started to believe him…

Just to make sure that I wouldn’t look like a fool, I did some fast web surfing and I pulled out articles and recipes on Buffalo wings. Sure enough, the main ingrediant in ALL of the recipes is CHICKEN!!! I cut and pasted paragraphs of the articles I pulled out, he read them and said that I should have trusted him and I that shouldn’t be so gullible and silly as to believe everything I read online. I was like ?!?!?!?!?! GULLIBLE?!?!?! SILLY?!?!?! I had all the facts and proof here to say that Buffalo wings are indeed chicken wings!!! At that point, I wanted to strangle him to death!!!!!! I still do…hmmm…

Ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t want to get me upset, please don’t try to convince me that Buffalo wings are ‘Buffalo wings’. Below are some facts about Buffalo wings that you might want to read, for entertainment purposes of course. Who knows, maybe it will be a good topic to talk about in your future social gatherings.

"Buffalo Wings (known simply as "wings" or "chicken wings" in much of the Northeastern United States, especially in areas around Buffalo, NY, where they are almost never referred to as Buffalo Wings by locals), are unbreaded chicken wing sections (called flats and drums), deep fried, and coated in a cayenne pepper-based sauce with other seasonings. Although many variations on this sauce exist, the original sauce is composed of only five ingredients: cayenne pepper sauce, white vinegar, butter, salt, and garlic. When using a prepared hot sauce of vinegar and cayenne pepper, the recipe is simply a mixture of hot sauce and melted butter. Buffalo wings are named after the city of Buffalo, New York where they originated, and the appellation "buffalo" is now commonly applied to foodstuffs other than wings that are seasoned with the sauce or close variations on it.

In wing parlance, a "single" order is ten wings, a "double" is 20, and a "triple" is 30. Buffalo wings can usually be ordered by the "bucket" in quantities of 50 or more, and Buffalo wing sauce can be made with a variable amount of heat/spiciness, the names of these sauces generally corresponding to the level of heat (for example, "suicidal," "hot," "medium," or "mild"). For authentic Buffalo wings, "hot," "medium," and "mild" all use the same sauce. Cooks achieve the requested level of heat by adding cayenne (or other spices, such as african bird seed) to raise the "heat" or adding butter to cool the spiciness.

Buffalo wings are now typically served with celery sticks, carrot sticks, and blue cheese salad dressing. Some restaurants serve their wings with ranch dressing instead of blue cheese (but never in Buffalo, NY)."

The punch line of the story is? After all this hard work, he said he was kidding, and that he couldn’t believe I was so gullible that I actually believed him! Haaah…haaah…haaah. I’m glad he found it entertaining. *ROLLS HER EYES* Haaah…haaah…haaah…WHATEVER

I think he wouldn’t take me out for wings anymore now that he has read my blog…Kekeke.

I would like to have a break from KK, and I do miss Calgary sometimes. I miss walking alone in the shopping malls; observing people during rush hour. I miss going to the library and reading tons of books! I miss my multi-step classes at the YMCA. I miss baking sugar cookies at home; and the spicy cinnamon-ie smell that comes from the oven! I even miss the fresh feeling I get from the freezing cold weather during winter time! Crazy!

Okay okay, you may ask, if I miss so many things in Calgary, why don’t I just go back then? Well, that is because I love KK too! I love the freedom I get in KK. No cooking, no cleaning, no laundry! I enjoy the warm weather here, and I love the fact that I don’t have to plan anything when I go out. When I feel bored, I can just call my friends up, get the car keys and off I go. As well, my family is here. Mom and dad are getting older day by day, even though they didn’t mention anything about me staying back, I know they would want me to be here with them.

The past two years have been amazing to me. I met so many people, made so many friends! My life has been a bit chaotic, some would say a bit too chaotic at times! But I didn’t mind it, not at all. I enjoyed every moment of laughter, tears, happiness and sadness I experienced. That was certainly a stark contrast from my ever boring life in Calgary back then.

If I go back, I will get good pay, but at the expense of a life? I will be lonely as hell and I will DEFINITELY shrivel up like a prune! I feel sick thinking about the day when I leave the KK airport, all red-eyed with tears streaming down my face! Rest assure, that is exactly what will happen! I hate saying goodbye! BLAH! I guess I really can’t have the best sides of both world hey?